Your Week In Review

For the week of April 29th, through May 5th, this is your week in review.

28   That’s the number of total Warblers identified this week throughout the tri-state area. One might call this a fall-out, and you’d probably be correct in that statement. Once again it was another phenomenal week birding. With some of the heavy rains we’ve been experiencing, the effects in regards to the different species of birds is apparent.

Area parks where birders visited include Withrow Nature Preserve, Boone County Cliffs,  Ault Park, Spring Grove Cemetery, Burnett Woods, Miami Whitewater Forest, Shawnee Lookout Park, Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands, Smith Tract Preserve, Magrish Riverlands Preserve, Armleder Park, California Woods, East Fork S.P., Chilo Lock #34, Mt. Airy Forest, Fernald Preserve, and Ferbach-Werner Nature Preserve.

Neighborhoods reporting in include: Newtown, Clifton, Westwood, Lost Bridge, Owensville, West Chester, New Richmond, Milford, Price Hill, Kenwood, and Williamsburg.

Notable birds for the week include;

Accipitriformes

1. Broad-winged Hawk
2. Cooper’s Hawk
3. Red-tailed Hawk
4. Ferruginous Hawk
5. Osprey

Falconiformes

1. American Kestrel

Charadriiformes

1. Wilson’s Snipe
2. Solitary Sandpiper
3. Pectoral Sandpiper
4. Greater Yellowlegs
5. Lesser Yellowlegs
6. Long-billed Dowitcher
7. Short-billed Dowitcher
8. Spotted sandpiper
9. Least Sandpiper
10. Semipalmated sandpiper
11. Dunlin
12. Semipalmated Plover

Piciformes

1. Hairy Woodpecker
2. Downy Woodpecker
3. Pileated Woodpecker
4. Red-bellied Woodpecker
5. Northern Flicker

Gruiformes

1. Sora
2. Virginia Rail

Caprimulgiformes

1. Common Nighthawk

Passeriformes

1. Red-eyed Vireo
2. Warbling Vireo
3. Blue-headed Vireo
4. Bell’s Vireo
5. Acadian Flycatcher
6. Least Flycatcher
7. Willow Flycatcher
8. Great-creasted Flycatcher
9. Wood Thrush
10. Hermit Thrush
11. Veery
12. Eastern Phoebe
13. Grasshopper Sparrow
14. Savannah Sparrow
15. Henslow’s Sparrow
16. White-throated Sparrow
17. White-crowned Sparrow
18. Chipping Sparrow
19. Song Sparrow
20. Lincoln Sparrow
21. Summer Tanager
22. Scarlet Tanager
23. Rose-breasted grosbeak
24. Blue Grosbeak
25. Baltimore Oriole
26. Orchard Oriole
27. Sedge Wren
28. Dickcissel
29. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
30. Bobolink
31. Cedar Waxwing
32. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
33. Blue-winged Warbler
34. Black and White Warbler
35. Nashville warbler
36. Cerulean Warbler
37. Yellow Warbler
38. Pine Warbler
39. Yellow-throated Warbler
40. Yellow-rumped Warbler
41. Black-throated Green Warbler
42. Prothonotary Warbler
43. Chestnut-sided Warbler
44. Palm Warbler
45. Magnolia Warbler
46. Tennessee Warbler
47. Northern Waterthrush
48. Louisiana Waterthrush
49. Hooded Warbler
50. American Redstart
51. Blackpoll Warbler
52. Wilson’s Warbler
53. Cape May Warbler
54. Prairie warbler
55. Kentucky Warbler
56. Canada warbler
57. Black-throated Blue warbler
58. Yellow-breasted Chat
59. Ovenbird

Multiple Notes From The Field

Newtown Farmers Market, Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands, Avoca Trailhead Park, Magrish Riverlands Preserve

As a bird blogger there comes a time when birding supersedes blogging. And such is the case these last several days. I would rather write one big blog, than to miss an opportunity to go birding during migration when things are really firing up.

So to start, last Sunday I made a deal with Kathy that I’d do the grocery shopping  if I could get the morning off to do a little birding. DEAL. So I was off to Riverside park in Newtown right across from Newtown Farmers Market, where for the last several days a Long-billed Dowitcher and other cool stuff had been hangin’. Across the road from the park is a grass field that was retaining water and the perfect location for your wading type birds.

Spotting the Dowitchers was easy enough, telling the difference between the 2 species is an entirely different matter. There were 3 Dowitchers and one was very different from the others, so this was the one I focused my attention on.

Doing a side by side comparison with the other 2 and studying the field marks I felt confident that we had 2 Short-billed and 1 Long-billed Dowitcher.

After 30 minutes I was planning on going home but I had a great idea that maybe I should drop by Avoca Park that’s right on the way back towards home. I’ve only been to Avoca Park once before and it was for a very short visit. This time I thought I’d walk into the woods a little and get a feel for the park. And what a great feeling it was. Warblers were everywhere. Yellow-rumped Warblers were to numerous to count after a while and Nashville and Blue-winged were always on either side of me as I made my way slowly along well maintained trails.

I could have stayed a whole day, but a deal is a deal so I headed home to  keep my end of the bargain.

Now yesterday with Kathy in school I thought a quick stop at Ellis Lake & West Chester Wetlands was in order. With all the rain lately and a few reports that came across the “sightings log”, there appeared to be some decent activity going on. As I pulled into the parking lot me eyes were towards the darkening sky than the birds  feeding in several large sky pools.

With the rumble of thunder in the background I quickly noted all the species that I saw and did some quick calculations as to how many and left with lightning showing up on the horizon.

2 Short-billed Dowitchers

30 minutes just isn’t enough time to thoroughly count all the different species in a given area. However by the time I got going the rain started to pick up in intensity, so by the time i got home it was coming down in buckets.

So today John Marvin e-mailed me wanting to know if I wanted to meet over in Newtown again and see if we can re-locate the Long-billed Dowitchers. I got there first and started to scan the now larger body of water. John showed up a few minutes later and then we got serious. We moved down the side of the road to get a better view and to see if they were somewhere we hadn’t looked . John was the first to spot them. All told there were 3 Dowitchers. 2 of them were definitely Short-billed, however there was one that had that look to it.

This is the one with that look to it. Maybe a possible Long-billed?

A sleepy Short-billed Dowitcher

I can’t believe that I caught this one flapping it’s wings.

After leaving Newtown John and myself drove to Magrish Riverlands Preserve. We stayed for about an hour and covered as much as possible. I think some of the birds that were there yesterday moved on after the storms passed through. It was pretty quiet except for a couple of FOY birds, Philadelphia Vireo and Veery. At 6:30 we parted ways so we both could get home at a decent hour.

Notable birds for the past few days include:

1. Great Blue Heron
2. Warbling Vireo
3. Philadelphia Vireo
4. Blue Jay
5. Carolina Chickadee
6. Tufted Titmouse
7. Carolina Wren
8. American Robin
9. Northern Cardinal
10. Song Sparrow
11. Cedar Waxwing
12. Indigo Bunting
13. Baltimore Oriole
14. Veery
15. Canada Goose
16. Wood Duck
17. Mallard
18. Blue-winged Teal
19. American Coot
20. Blue-winged Warbler
21. Tennessee Warbler
22. Nashville Warbler
23. Yellow Warbler
24. Yellow-rumped Warbler
25. Northern Parula
26. Palm Warbler
27. Common Yellowthroat
28. Mourning Dove
29. Gray Catbird
30. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
31. Chimney Swift
32. Tree Swallow
33. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
34. Downy Woodpecker
35. Northern Flicker
36. Red-bellied Woodpecker
37. Belted Kingfisher
38. Solitary Sandpiper
39. Spotted Sandpiper
40. Least Sandpiper
41. Semipalmated Sandpiper
42. Dunlin
43. Greater Yellowleg
44. Lesser Yellowleg
45. Pectoral Sandpipper
46.  Short-billed Dowitcher
47. Long-billed Dowitcher
48. Killdeer
49. Semipalmated Plover
50. Northern Shoveler
51. Virginai Rail
52. Brown-headed Cowbird
53. Common Grackle
54. American Goldfinch

Your Week In Review

For the week of April 22nd, through April 28th, this is your week in review.

Another busy birding week brought birders out in force once again. At times like these I seem to do more blogging than actual birding. I’d be birding tonight if it wasn’t for the workshop tomorrow and all the stuff I have to ready. So I’ll stay home and compile this extremely long list of parks and neighborhoods where birders reported from. So without further ado here’s the list of the parks where birders visited this week: Gilmore Ponds, East Fork S.P., Magrish Riverland Preserve, Armleder Park, Avoca Park, Hueston Woods S.P., Brookville Lake, Winton Woods Park, Lost Bridge, Smith Tract Park, Campbell Lake Preserve, Cincinnati Nature Center, Shawnee Lookout, Burnett Woods Park, Caesar Creek Gorge, and Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands.

Neighborhoods reporting in include: Winton Place, Deer Park, Felicity, East Walnut Hills, Goshen, Newtown, Anderson Twp., Newport, Kenwood, Clifton, Southern Clermont County, Franklin County, Finnytown, Monroe, Sharonville, Latonia, and Westwood.

Notable birds for the week include:

Accipitriformes

1. Bald Eagle
2. Broad-winged Hawk
3. Osprey
4. Cooper’s Hawk
5. Red-tailed Hawk

Pelecaniformes

1. American Bittern
2. Black-crowned Night Heron

Charadriiformes

1. Spotted Sandpiper
2. Least Sandpiper
3. Semipalmated Sandpiper
4. Pectoral Sandpiper
5. Greater Yellowleg
6. Lesser Yellowleg
7. Dunlin
8. Willet
9. Solitary Sandpiper
10. Short-billed Dowitcher
11. Long-billed Dowitcher
12. Bonaparte’s Gull
13. Wilson’s Snipe
14. Common Tern
15. Caspian Tern
16. Forester’s Tern

Anseriformes

1. Blue-winged Teal
2. America Wigeon
3. Northern Shoveler

Strigiformes

1. Barred Owl

Piciformes

1. Northern Flicker
2. Pileated Woodpecker
3. Hairy Woodpecker

Gruiformes

1. Virginia Rail
2. Sora

Apodiformes

1. Chimney Swift
2. Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Passeriformes

1. Acadian Flycatcher
2. Great-crested Flycatcher
3. Least Flycatcher
4. Wood Thrush
5. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
6. Blue Grosbeak
7. Orchard Oriole
8. Baltimore Oriole
9. Pine Siskins
10. Red-eyed Vireo
11. White-eyed Vireo
12. Blue-headed Vireo
13. Warbling Viroe
14. Yellow-throated Vireo
15. Rusty Blackbird
16. Eastern Phoebe
17. Eastern Kingbird
18. Horned Lark
19. Bobolink
20. Savannah Sparrow
21. White-throated Sparrow
22. White-crowned Sparrow
23. Meadow Lark
24. Lark Sparrow
25. Vesper Sparrow
26. Swamp Sparrow
27. Grasshopper Sparrow
28. Field Sparrow
29. Scarlet Tanager
30. Summer Tanager
31. Indigo Bunting
32. Palm Warbler
33. Northern Parula
34. Prothonotary Warbler
35. Common Yellowthroat
36. Yellow-throated Warbler
37. Nashville Warbler
38. Cerulean Warbler
39. Kentucky Warbler
40. Blackburnian Warbler
41. American Redstart
42. Black-throated Green Warbler
43. Prairie Warbler
44. Louisiana Waterthrush
45. Northern Waterthrush
46. Yellow-breasted Chat
47. Ovenbird
48. Worm-eating warbler
49. Black and White Warbler
50. Blackpoll Warbler
51. Pine Warbler
52. Hooded Warbler
53. Tennessee Warbl
54. Barn Swallow
55. Cliff Swallow
56. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
57. Tree Swallow
58. Purple Martin

For a detailed listing of the weeks postings, please go to www.cincinnatibirds.com

So as we end this week in review, keep on birding, and don’t forget to post your sightings.

 

Your Week In Review

For the week of April 15th, through April 21st, this is your week in review.

Spring migration is in full bloom as more and more of our beautiful Spring migrants arrive around the Tri-state in our typical hotspots. But you better be prepared to know your bird calls since the majority of the trees are leafed out. Being able to ID a Warbler in the top of a totally leafed out tree will require both sight and sound skills. The Ferruginous Hawk is still being seen over at CVG with no sign of it leaving, so if you’ve not seen this bird as of yet, plan a trip before it leaves. We also had 48 hours of excitement as a Black-necked Stilt was sighted at Ellis Lake. And once again this blogger was able to see it and get some pictures as well. Also Caesar Creek had it’s own excitement as both Lesser Black-backed Gull and Surf Scoters were seen earlier this week.

This has got to be the largest “location” list I’ve typed for this column ever and this is just a prelude of what it”ll be like in weeks to come. So to quote Samuel L. Jackson in the movie Jurassic Park, “Hold on to your butts”, here’s the list of where our birders visited this week. Shawnee Lookout, Crooked Run Nature Preserve, Fairview Park, Ault Park, Magrish Riverland Preserve, California Woods, East Fork S.P., Caesar Creek S.P., Hueston Woods S.P., Cowan Lake S.P., The Oxbow, Miami Whitewater Forest, Winton Woods, Smith Tract Park, Fernald Preserve, Eden Park, Spring Valley Wildlife Area, CVG, Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands, Armleder Park, Sharon Woods, Grand Valley, Avoca Trailhead Park, Lake Isabella, and Glenwood Gardens.

Neighborhoods reporting in include: Felicity, Kenwood, Landen, Lawrenceburg Road, Milford, Newtown, Clifton, Maderia, United American Cemetery, Owensville, Oxford, West Wood, Morrow, and Williamsburg.

Notable birds for the week include:

Accipitriformes

1. Bald Eagle
2. Ferruginous Hawk
3. Broad-winged Hawk
4. Osprey
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk

Falconiformes

1. American Kestrel

Pelecaniformes

1. Great Egret
2. Green Heron

Charadriiformes

1. Pectoral Sandpiper
2. Black-necked Stilt
3. Wilson’s Snipe
4. Solitary Sandpiper
5. Lesser Yellowleg
6. Greater Yellowleg
7. Spotted Sandpiper
8. Dunlin
9. Short-billed Dowitcher
10. Forster’s Tern
11. Caspian tern
12. Least Tern
13. Lesser Black-backed Gull
14. Bonaparte’s Gull
15. Semi-palmated Plover

Anseriformes

1. Ring-necked Duck
2. Surf scoter
3. Wood Duck
4. Green-winged Teal
5. Blue-winged Teal
6. Red-breasted Merganser
7. Northern Shoveler

Strigiformes

1. Great Horned Owl

Piciformes

1. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
2. Pileated Woodpecker
3. Downy Woodpecker
4. hairy Woodpecker
5. Red-bellied Woodpecker
6. Red-headed Woodpecker

Gruiformes

1. Virginia Rail

Galliformes

1. Wild Turkey

Apodiformes

1. Chimney Swift
2. Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Podicipediformes

1. Horned Grebe
2. Pied-billed Grebe

Passeriformes

1. Great-crested Flycatcher
2. Horned Lark
3. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
4. Orchard Oriole
5. Baltimore Oriole
6. Brown Thrasher
7. Eastern Kingbird
8. Eastern Phoebe
9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
10. Wood Thrush
11. Rusty Blackbird
12. Purple Finch
13. Scarlet Tanager
14. Yellow-throated Vireo
15. White-eyed Vireo
16. Red-eyed Vireo
17. Warbling Vireo
18. Brown Creeper
19. Red-breasted Nuthatch
20. Tree Swallow
21. Barn Swallow
22. Norther Rough-winged Swallow
23. Nashville Warbler
24. Yellow-rumped Warbler
25. Common Yellowthroat
26. Cerulean Warbler
27. Prothonotary Warbler
28. Yellow-breasted Chat
29. Kentucky Warbler
30. Black-throated Green warbler
31. Louisiana Waterthrush
32. Black and White Warbler
33. Northern Parula
34. Tennessee Warbler
35. Yellow-throated warbler
36. Pine Warbler
37. Blue-winged Warbler
38. Prairie Warbler
39. Palm Warbler
40. Houose Wren
41. Field Sparrow
42. Chipping Sparrow
43. Savannah Sparrow
44. vesper Sparrow
45. Song Sparrow
46. Swamp Sparrow
47. White-throated Sparrow
48. White-crowned Sparrow

For a detailed listing of the weeks postings, please go to www.cincinnatibirds.com

So as we end this week in review, keep on birding, and don’t forget to post your sightings.

 

Notes From The Field

Daniel Drake Park, California Woods, Magrish Riverlands Preserve, Armleder Park, Avoca Trailhead Park, & Grand Valley

If you haven’t noticed by now, yesterdays field trip involved following the Little Miami River north from California Woods, and ending at Grand Valley. Granted Daniel Drake Park doesn’t border the Little Miami, however it is on the way, so I stopped there first. Several weeks ago a Pine Warbler was sighted there, so I thought I’d see if the bird was still there. They have a nice stand of Evergreens which would entice me if I was a Pine Warbler.

Now there’s something about Pine Warblers that drives me nuts. They sound almost identical to Chipping Sparrows. So for over an hour I chased down every song that sounded like a Pine Warbler, only to find it to be another Chipping Sparrow. A Pine Warbler was later spotted at Avoca Trailhead.

From there it was a short drive to California Woods to try and find another target bird for the day, a Louisiana Waterthrush. Lick Run Creek runs through this 113 acre heavily wooded forest. And it’s along this creek that I hope to find the Waterthrush. I’ve seen Waterthrush here in the past, and some recent sightings has given me confidence that I’ll spot at least one. I hope. For 30 minutes I walked up and down the road hearing and see everything but a Louisiana Waterthrush. I didn’t want to get too far away from the creek and hike up into the woods, even as tempting as it looked. At one point I went back to the bird-mobile and reacquainted myself with it’s song. 2 minutes later I hear the song coming from the nature center. The song was loud and clear and constant. I had it cornered in a bend of the creek prior to the bridge when it flew to a nearby tree and continued to sing. Getting a proper ID on it was the easy part, getting a picture was different. Like most Warblers, they don’t like to sit still long enough for photos. Digi-binning a was out of the question, so I pulled out my other camera and took this photo.

I wish the Waterthrush was as cooperative as this Eastern Towhee.

2 minutes after leaving California Woods, I pull into Magrish Riverlands Preserve. This is one of my favorite spots for migrant Warblers and with the dry weather we’ve had lately, it should be relatively dry. Well I was correct on the dry part. For the hour I spent here I would have thought the birding would be better than it was. Picking up a couple FOS birds, I made my way to Armleder Park, where the bulk of the day I was going to spend.

Armleder Park was a bustle of activity as I pulled in. I think every dog owner in Cincinnati had their dogs romping in the enclosed dog parks. That’s right they have 2 of them now. I guess it’s like an overflow parking lot for dogs.  Families were out in force with young ones in tow as they biked, hiked, skated, their way around the paved paths that loop around and through the park. For myself it was onto the “Bean Field”. And what do my wondering eyes should appear, but Great Egrets.

As the Sun rose higher, the morning frost finally melted away and more layers of clothing peeled off. Getting along into the late morning and early afternoon my target birds of Savannah and Vesper Sparrows were becoming harder to find. I did find one Savannah Sparrow as it hide under a bush.

Savannah Sparrow

I dipped on the Vesper Sparrow but I did have some luck with 2 fly over Rusty Blackbirds. I did find one Song Sparrow that held still long enough for me to get these 2 pretty good pictures.

The Tree Swallows were everywhere today. Laying claim to empty Bluebird houses, they were easy to photograph as they lighted on the post that held up the bird house.

With a couple of hours till needing to be back home I left Armleder Park and followed the river to Avoca Trailhead Park. Situated along the bike trail this is a small park with river access. Plus it has a lot of potential for some good birding. This is where I picked up a Pine and Yellow-throated Warbler. With one more stop before home I left Avoca Trailhead Park on my way to Grand Valley. Which turned out to be rather disappointing. If there were any ducks on the lake they were all scared off by the fisherman and children playing. I was able to spot one lone Horned Grebe which I thought was a great find considering.

Notable birds for the day include:

1. Mourning Dove
2. Rock Dove
3. Northern Cardinal
4. Tufted Titmouse
5. Carolina Chickadee
6. Blue Jay
7. White-throated Sparrow
8. White-crowned Sparrow
9. Song Sparrow
10. Savannah Sparrow
11. Field Sparrow
12. Chipping Sparrow
13. House Sparrow
14. House Finch
15. American Goldfinch
16. Common Grackle
17. Common Crow
18. Rusty Blackbird
19. Red-winged Blackbird
20. Canada Goose
21. American Robin
22. American Coot
23. Mallard
24. Wood Duck
25. Blue-winged Teal
26. Great Egret
27. Great Blue Heron
28. Lesser Yellowleg
29. Pectoral Sandpiper
30. Killdeer
31. Bank Swallow
32. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
33. Barn Swallow
34. Tree Swallow
35. Eastern Towhee
36. Louisiana Waterthrush
37. Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler
38. Pine Warbler
39. Downy Woodpecker
40. Red-bellied Woodpecker
41. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
42. Brown-headed Cowbird
43. Carolina Wren
44. Cooper’s Hawk
45. Red-tailed Hawk
46. Turkey Vulture
47. Eastern Meadowlark
48. Horned Grebe
49. Pied-billed Grebe
50. Northern Mockingbird
51. Belted Kingfisher

Notes From The Field/Magrish Riverlands Preserve

The decision to go to Magrish Preserve than to an organized field trip was a pretty easy one for me. The trip to Spring Valley Wildlife Area organized by the Cincinnati Bird Club was the trip I had originally thought of going on. However I never have any luck going there. I don’t know what it is about that place, it just doesn’t produce the variety that one would think it would. Don’t take me wrong, I always go there a couple times each year, however Magrish Preserve has been seeing some good varieties lately, namely a Yellow-throated Vireo. It’s also a excellent migrant trap for warblers that are passing though, except today.

Magrish Riverlands Preserve, which is bordered by Kellogg Avenue, Salem Avenue, and the flooded Little Miami River, is a small park operated throught he Cincinnati Park Board. Small enough not to even be mentioned on there web site.

The Little Miami River in it’s flooded state.

You can normally walk where you see these trees. A very wide expanse of bottom land that runs parallel to the river, totally underwater.

The entrance to the park from the parking lot. Normally this area would be busy with warbler and other passerine activity.

With half the park covered with water, this was one of the few trails that you were able to walk on. Once again not a lot of activity on this stretch of trail.

As you continue to follow the trail it will make a right angle and run parallel to Kellogg Avenue. The utility pole in the center of the picture is on Kellogg Avenue. This trail then run into the river as you climb down. This section was very soggy, and eventually I had to back track to get out.

Eventually more birders showed up, but having been there for an hour and a half, I decided to take a trip to Ault Park. Never having birded there before I thought I would stay for an hour or so. However as soon as I started on this one trail the wind really picked up and it started to rain harder. Not knowing how long it was going to rain I decided to call it quits. Maybe I should have gone Spring Valley.

Notable birds for the day include:

1. Eastern Towhee
2. Carolina Chickadee
3. Northern Cardinal
4. American Robin
5. Mourning Dove
6. Eastern Goldfinch
7. Common Crow
8. Tufted Titmouse
9. Yellow-rumped warbler
10. Chipping Sparrow
11. Red-winged Black Bird
12. Red-bellied Woodpecker
13. Song Sparrow
14. Blue Jay
15. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
16. Canada Goose
17. Downy Woodpecker
18. White-throated Sparrow
19. Turkey Vulture
20. Cooper’s Hawk